Dining at the Kasbah Lounge

kasbah
Now that is more like it!
After a stressful week, I just wanted to go someplace peaceful and forget the week. We ate here on March 10, 2006
The link above takes you to the website. The decor is not as glamorous as, say Dar Maghreb in Los Angeles, the restaurant itself is not very large, but this is one pleasant place. Various seating available, from tall tables and stools (with backs), bar seating, table seating, or the best of all, row type seating on a low cushioned bench, with cushions for your back and a low table for two. The only draw back is those little tables, they seem wobbly, and there isn't much room if you have more than two dishes of food going at once, plus your drinks. We chose the comfy seats where we could lean back and just watch. There are light sconces everywhere, projecting soft light, the seating along the walls has drapes of material overhead to give a tent-like feeling. The items along the walls fit in with my perception of what a Moroccan eatery would look like. There are small votive candles on the tables (one per table) but the lighting is soft to the point it makes reading the menu difficult. Perhaps bigger print, certainly I would hate to have more light spoil the atmosphere.
WAIT STAFF:
Prompt, not overly intrusive when they check on you, and offering suggestions on drink and food, friendly (young, my gosh).
DRINKS:
The menu listed 5 foreign beers, but only two were on hand. My partner tried the lager from Morocco and, although it was yellow beer, said it wasn't too bad. I had one of the Kasbah's signature drinks, an aged rum from Brazil with mashed up lemons and limes. It was perfect, and served in a large round goblet, so one was plenty - and at $8.50 I didn't want to pay for two.
FOOD:
Of course, we want to try a little of everything, so we had Fatima's Palette, which was three 'dips,' hummus (very good), lebne (a yogurt based dip, also very good), and baba ganoush. The baba ganoush was strange, it tasted like an avocado dip and I think I would have preferred something different like tabouli. There was never ending pita bread wedges. This dish was $9.
We also had Merguez, for $9.50, it was 4 skewers of lamb sausages, red onion, red pepper, and lime and kumquats (or lowquats). The mix of a bite of sausage and kumquat was delicious, and 4 skewers was plentiful, glad to see a good amount of food.
Lastly, we had B'stella rolls. Usually B'stella is more like a pie, but this was the same crust, with almonds and cinnamon sugar mix sprinkled atop, and filled with chicken and egg. $8 for 4 fat rolls was a great value. It tasted delicious.
CRANKY RATING:
Overall - this place gets 4 happy faces from ole cranky. Price was right, food plentiful and tasty. I will definitely be sharing this spot with friends and out of town visitors.

Incidentally, this is the place with hukas I spoke of a couple of critiques back. Tonight it was too chilly to sit outside and enjoy one - of course, with hot sweetened mint tea... maybe in a future trip.